THE SEAL AND WHALE FISHERY OF 1883. 397 



and satisfaction, in administering nourishment to their pretty 

 long-coated and large-eyed offspring, or passing to and fro 

 between the open water and the ice, still intent on their labour 

 of love. On this peaceful scene the arctic sun went down. 



Hardly had daylight spread over the ice on the morning of 

 the 3rd, when the ships commenced to send their men away, and 

 by 3 o'clock there were something like 800 men on the ice, 150 of 

 whom would be armed with rifles. Until 12 o'clock the cheers 

 of the men, the cries of the Seals, and the crack of the rifles was 

 incessant ; after 12, as the Seals grew scarcer and the men became 

 fagged, the noise gradually diminished, and at 8 p.m. all was 

 quiet again. 



As may be imagined, when in such large numbers and at 

 such close quarters, quarrels, particularly between the Scotch and 

 Norwegian sailors, were frequent, and the danger from wandering 

 bullets was not slight ; happily, however, the casualties from the 

 latter cause were confined to one Norwegian wounded. The 4th 

 was spent in like manner, but the men had farther to go and fewer 

 Seals to get ; and on the 5th still fewer Seals rewarded them for 

 greatly increased labour. 



The ice was now completely cleared, and on "making off" 

 Capt. Gray found that his share was as follows : — young Harp 

 Seals, 1470; old ditto, 354; young Hooded Seals, 822; old 

 ditto, 2; total, 2148. As Capt. Gray abstained from the injudicious 

 practice known as "hinging," — that is, continuing to kill the 

 Seals so long as any are to be found and piling the pelts where 

 they were killed, instead of bringing them at once to the ship, — 

 he did not make up so large a total as the Norwegians, but from 

 the reports he received from the other vessels he estimates the 

 total number of Seals killed by the sixteen ships at about 42,000. 



On the 10th April the ' Eclipse ' again fell in with Seals, and 

 worked amongst them till the 13th, when owing to the distance 

 his crew had to travel upon the ice, and the badness of the 

 weather, the men were completely footsore and exhausted. The 

 result of this second breeding-station was 2416 young and 25 old 

 Harp Seals, and 6 young and 1 old Hooded Seals, making with 

 those previously taken a total of 459(3 Seals. 



I have mentioned the practice of "hinging" Seals, which is 

 precisely the same as that known in the Newfoundland fishery as 

 "panning" or "bulking," a system which ought to be strictly 



ZOOLOGIST. AUGUST, 1884. 2 A 



